Abstract

Background

The anti-PD-1 antibodies nivolumab was first approved in Japan all over the world. Recently nivolumab and pembrolizumab have been shown to be more effective than ipilimumab in the first-line setting in melanoma. It is few reports that showed the efficacy and toxicity of ipilimumab after the anti-PD-1 therapy, especially in Asia.

Methods

We retrospectively identified 19 patients with metastatic melanoma who had ipilimumab for a maximum of four doses after the failure of nivolumab.

Results

None of our cases achieved obvious objective response to ipilimumab. Seventy-one percent (14/19) of patients developed immune-related toxicity associated with ipilimumab. Diarrhea which is one of the common adverse events (AEs) as immune-related toxicity was seen for one third of the cases. Only 5 cases completed maximum four doses of ipilimumab.

Conclusions

Ipilimumab after nivolumab could not induce effectiveness in melanoma patients, while AEs were comparable to previous reports.